Reading Comprehension and Problem-solving Skills: A Correlational Study

Abstract

There have been several studies on the relationship between English and Mathematics. As one of the several mentioned, this study aimed to know whether English reading comprehension is a factor in successfully solving Mathematical word problems by utilizing descriptive correlational design to gather and process data. This study used the Department of Education Philippine Informal Reading Inventory for the reading comprehension test and a researcher-made questionnaire for the word problem-solving test. Results showed that the performance of fifth-graders from a private school in Bacolod City in reading comprehension and word problem-solving were contradictory and had no significant relationship with each other. The interpretation of the mean scale of reading comprehension was at an Instructional Level, while that of word problem-solving was at a Frustration Level. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between reading comprehension and problem-solving in terms of sex. It is recommended that teachers and parents alike should develop the students’ mathematical numeracy skills along with English literacy skills. Peer tutorials with the modular approach are proposed to enhance the learning and teaching of Mathematics.